Outgoing Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) on Monday bid farewell to her colleagues in Washington after last week resigning to become Vice President William Lai’s (賴清德) running mate in January’s presidential election.
Hsiao wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that it has been “an honor to represent Taiwan in the US.”
“As I embark on another challenging path, I am truly grateful to all who have worked with me to strengthen the Taiwan US partnership over the last three years,” she wrote.
Photo: Hua Meng-ching, Taipei Times
She said she was “blessed to have an incredibly diligent and dedicated team” at Taiwan’s representative office in the US.
“Taiwanese diplomats can never take support for granted. We know we must earn it and work for it,” she said, adding that she would miss “the cherry blossoms and colorful foliage of DC” as well as “the warmth of bipartisan friends who have committed to stand with Taiwan.”
After participating in presidential campaign activities in Taiwan for much of last week, Hsiao flew back to the US and arrived in Washington on Sunday to take care of handover procedures.
The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US posted a photograph on Facebook of Hsiao with her colleagues in Washington, and said she turned over her responsibilities to deputy representatives to the US Robin Cheng (鄭榮俊) and Johnson Chiang (姜森).
Hsiao was yesterday to return to Taiwan via New York.
Hsiao was in Taiwan last week to be officially announced as Lai’s running mate on the Democratic Progressive Party’s ticket for the Jan. 13 presidential election.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Hsiao officially tendered her resignation as representative to the US, a post she had held since July 2020, to President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) on Monday last week.
Tsai has approved Hsiao’s resignation, which takes effect tomorrow, the Presidential Office said.
In the interim, Hsiao would be on paid leave, while Cheng serves as acting representative to the US, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Jeff Liu (劉永健) said.
The Presidential Office and the ministry are still in the process of appointing Hsiao’s successor, Liu said, giving no timeline for when that person would be announced.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
RSS